I was always a big fan of the early couple of albums by this German power metal band, but their rocky up and down road since then has really sort of dulled the interest in general on their career. A length of journeymen musicians and vocalists as long as your arm, repeated starts and stops and some uneven albums later and they have largely gone forgotten by the metal masses. It is hard to believe it’s been 13 long years since their last effort, Scantropolis and even though singer Efthimios Ioannidis has been in the band since 2003, this is the first release since then! With Axel Julius the only original member left of the band and the band’s legacy and momentum all but shattered, I could see this being released with an all new band name and possibly even do better than being released as a Scanner release. That being said however, I think Axel knows what he is doing for this is definitely the strongest the band has sounded in a great long time. Not sure if it measures up with Hypertrace or Terminal Earth at this junction, but it is definitely better than what had come after them. The vocals are really strong here and it’s a shame we have had to wait this long to hear them recorded. The riffs are chunky and strong here and the tracks are solid and diverse to stand on their own nicely. Definitely a straight up power scorcher and a fine addition to the current metal scene. I hope that this is the beginning of a whole new chapter in the Scanner mythos and that the band can finally use this as a launching pad to fruitility instead of futility!Choice Tracks – F.T.B., Nevermore, Eutopia, Warlord, The Judgement, Known Better(8.5)